Egyptian Dances
by A Darker Dari
Summary: YYA. A thief thriving in the marketplace of Ancient Egypt. A runaway prince whose father wants him to get married. What will happen when the two meet? not so Loosely based on Aladdin. My first romance fic. R&R Please!
1. Slave Thief and Prince of Egypt

"Hey, get back to work!" the sound of a whip cracking overcame the other daily sounds of life near the Egyptian marketplace. Azure blue eyes belonging to a young figure that was perched upon the edge of a building snapped up from where they were scanning through the crowd and focused on the source of the noise some 10 yards away: a group of guards hovering over a fallen man.

The owner of those eyes winced and looked away as the guards in charge of construction on the great structures nearby continued to yell at the exhausted slave before him, who slowly picked up his dropped tools and continued to chip away at a stone slab. His glance upward revealed him to be only about 17.

One hand ran swiftly through short-cropped brown hair in agitation before pulling up the hood of a cloak to cover the hurt evident in those blue eyes. A single tear swept down the youth's face.

The short boyish figure with robes made especially for moving quickly and bustling through crowds tended to make all who saw believe that a boy crouched there watching over the marketplace. Only the faintest curve of the eyes and expression in the face let slip that she was truly female; and that was just the way she wanted it.

She had been able to escape the grueling life of a slave when she traded in her dresses and earrings to turn thief at the age of five, and in the 12 years after that time, she had become good at her profession. Because of this, she tried as hard as she could to keep other people from having to resort to the same life.

The moment the guard's back was turned, she slipped into the construction complex. Pulling apples, bread, and whatever else she had managed to get ahold of that day out of the bag hanging by her side, the slaves were soon able to have a slight rest from their labors and some good food in their bellies.

This had been the system for as long as she could remember, and she wanted to make sure it would not end.

When the food and water was gone, the girl slid back into the crowd of the marketplace. Now it was time to get something for herself to eat...

"Stop! Thief!" Her head whipped around at the call and she instinctively crouched down into a position where she could run at a moments notice.

The call had not been for her, but for a tall, white-haired youth a few stalls down that had a small brown sack half full of goodies. He laughed in contempt at the guards and spun himself around gracefully on one foot, sprinting off in the opposite direction.

The girl smirked as she straightened again. Thief King Bakura was in town.

While everyone's attentions were fixed on the fleeing boy, who was now running backwards so that he could shout obscene things at his pursuers, she picked a loaf of bread and a melon off a few stalls, placed them carefully into her bag, and then blended back into the crowd.

As she walked, she accidentally bumped into someone and apologized briefly before continuing on her way.

"Anzu?" She started and turned back to the one she had run into. Then she smiled. It was one of her childhood friends; one of three who had run away from the slave camps with her and who knew her true gender.

"Hey, Yugi. Haven't seen you for a while. Where have you been?"

"Oh, around."

"You got caught, didn't you?" Anzu gave him a stern look.

"Sorta." Yugi turned a little red. "Thankfully, I didn't get turned in. Have you heard that prisoners are being judged by the pharaoh's high priests now? He has six of them, and each one bears one of the seven Millennium Items. The Pharaoh himself has the last one."

Anzu shuddered. She had heard of the 'Penalty Games' the items could inflict on those less than worthy. "All prisoners? I guess we'd better be careful not to get caught by the guards then..."

"Speaking of which..." Yugi gestured to her bag. "What'cha got there?"

"Food. What else? I was just heading to my place to unload."

"You still up in that rooftop?

"Yup, hasn't been found by the guards yet." Anzu grinned. "You wanna come with? I'm going to go ahead and guess that you don't have a place to stay right now..."

Yugi gave a sheepish smile, and Anzu laughed. "Come on."

"All right! Let's go! Say, have you heard from Bakura or Malik lately?"

"Bakura, yes. Malik, no. Bakura's been living low lately, except for his extravagant displays." She smirked. "Didn't you see him just a bit ago? He's as arrogant as ever."

The two chatted all along the way.

(Poinky Dead Divider)

"Yami, will you please pay attention to your lesson?" The annoyed voice startled the 17-year-old boy out of his reverie and back to the real world, where his teacher, High Priest Seth, was looking down at him with his arms folded.

Yami blinked at him, then looked down at the sheet of papyrus in front of him, which was filled with almost unintelligible numbers and letters and was supposed to be the plans for one of the structures that ha been built near the palace recently.

Seth caught the blank look in his eyes and sighed. "Yami, you are going to be the Pharaoh one day. You have to learn to do these things so that you can take your father's place on the throne. This is important."

Yami frowned. "I know it is. I'm sorry, Priest Seth. It's just… I'm a little distracted is all…"

"Ah, yes. Your little trip to Cairo to see the princess there last week would be the problem, yes? How did that go, by the way?" Seth smiled wickedly. "Got rejected by another girl?"

The prince's head whipped up and he glared at Seth. "For your information, I rejected her, not the other way around. And must I remind you to keep your nose out of my personal relationships?"

The smile never strayed from the man's face as he held up his hands in mock defeat. "All right then. But still, when the Pharaoh returns from his trip tonight, I doubt that he will be pleased to find out that you still haven't found a wife, even though your 18th birthday is in two weeks."

Yami's glare also did not fade. "Just get back to the lesson, Priest. It's none of your business if I don't exactly want to get married at the moment."

"As you wish, my prince."

As the two settled back down to the plans, Seth distinctly heard the prince mutter, "I almost can't wait until I am Pharaoh. Then I'll be able to get rid of you."

(Poinky Dead Divider)

(A/n: Gee, I wonder what's going to happen in this story? Wow, I'm not very good at writing things subtlety, am I? At any rate, I hope you liked the first chapter. Don't worry, I'm actually going to continue this one. Really. Honest.)


	2. First Meeting

(A/n: For the purpose of this story, all of the characters have conveniently failed to note the strange similarities between Yami and Yugi. Also, at least in the beginning of the chapter, Yami thinks Anzu is a boy because of her looks. Hence, the pronouns for her are written as "he" "his" and so forth whenever the story is being told from Yami's point of view.)

"Prince Yami, what are you doing?" a light, quiet voice came through the darkness and caused the young prince to freeze.

"I, uh..." The boy stuttered slightly as the Priestess Ishizu, a young woman about his age, came towards him to where he was standing by one of the palace's outer walls.

Ishizu reached him and placed a hand on his shoulder with a small sigh. "Prince, you should know by now that you can't run away without the Millennium Necklace knowing about it. It's been focused specifically to look out for you." She placed her other hand on the Millennium Item around her neck.

Yami frowned and once again began to try to form an explanation to what he was doing. Ishizu shook her head in amusement.

"The least you could have done, my Prince, would have been to get me to help you. You did a good job of eluding the guards, at any rate, but how did you think you were going to get over the wall without assistance?"

Yami stared at her, slightly dumbfounded. "You're not going to tell my father?"

Ishizu shook her head again. "No, I'm not. I know what happened last week with the princess, and I know how you feel. You should be able to marry who you want to marry, so if you want to go away to find the right girl, you should be able to. Only... You must promise me that when you do find the right one, that you will come back... Your father will miss you... And I will miss you too, my friend."

Yami smiled and gave the priestess a hug. "Thank you, Ishizu." He whispered.

She smiled as well. "Any time, Yami."

(Poinky Dead Divider)

Anzu sat perched on the edge of a building, staring down into the streets of the market and wondering what she would like for breakfast that morning. Her eye caught Yugi's bright hair serving as a distraction on the road below as he bantered with a shopkeeper at prices he obviously couldn't afford.

Silently, she slipped into the booth behind the man and, keeping low so that passersby would not see, she began picking out a selection of fruits for the morning.

Stealing things, she had to admit, was far easier with a partner who was good at serving as a distraction that wouldn't go away before she was done pick pocketing.

As she climbed back up onto the roof of the stall, Yugi told the shop keep in a loud voice that he had decided to choose from one of the other fruit stalls due to the preposterous prices there, and he stormed off. Anzu grinned and shook her head. That kid should go into acting someday...

She was joined on the roof by Yugi a few minutes later after he had doubled back along the other rooftops. "So, what's for breakfast?" he asked cheerily.

"Fruit." She replied. She tossed him an apple while spinning an orange on the index finger of her other hand like a very small basketball.

"Well, I figured that." Yugi said, easily catching the red fruit.

Anzu let the orange drop into her palm as she gazed out among the crowd. "That kid's about to get jumped..."

Yugi followed her gaze curiously. "By how many?"

"About three different guys. I wonder what he's got on him that is so interesting to so many people..." Anzu didn't wait for a reply, simply dropping from the rooftop and heading over. Most of the people around here knew that if she had an eye on a target, that target was not to be touched by any other, so she often 'marked' targets even if she wasn't going to steal anything from them, just so that others would leave them alone...

In this case, the one who was being stalked by the thieves looked as though he didn't want attention drawn to him, and being jumped was the sort of thing that made you noticed around here...

(Poinky Dead Divider)

Yami wandered through the crowd, wondering slightly at the rudeness of the people as they pushed and shoved everyone around them to get through.

He shook his head. He was just too used to having to have at least a distance of 2 feet between himself and others when he walked. He imitated those around him and shoved his way through as well. It seemed to be the only way to get anywhere around here.

"Excuse me, sir, you look lost." A voice came from his left and he turned to look, not sure if the person speaking was addressing him, or somebody else.

He glanced around. "Me? Lost?"

The person, a young man with short cropped brown hair and large blue eyes, smirked at him. "Yes. You. Lost. You're wandering around, gawking like a tourist. You new around here?"

Yami blinked, then gave a defeated sigh. "Is it that obvious?"

He received a laugh in reply. "Just a little. Come on, I can show you around. What's your name?"

"I'm Ya... er... Atem?" Yami turned slightly red.

"Nice to meet you, Yaeratem. I'm Anzu." He laughed again. "Come on, Atem, I'll take you to meet my friend." He turned and began heading towards a fruit stall, where another younger boy seemed to be waiting for them on the roof, smirking in amusement.

Yami blinked again. "Anzu? But isn't that a..." But the boy was already walking away and out of earshot with the noise of the crowd. "Girl's name...?" he finished lamely to himself. He sighed and followed him.

"Hey, I'm Yugi." The boy on the roof chirped once the other two had climbed up. "And Anzu here just saved your hide."

Yami blinked at Yugi's statement. It seemed that everything around him here was amazing him. "Saved me from what?" he asked.

Anzu smirked at him. "You had a group of thieves following you around. I figured you didn't want your valuables stolen, so by approaching you, I told them to lay off."

Yami gave her a strained look. "Thanks. Thanks a lot."

"No problem. Any idea what you have on you that they may have wanted?"

Yami looked down at himself, suddenly realizing the worth of the clothes he was wearing. They were some of his least valuable clothes, and they didn't stand out too much among the clothes of the civilians around here, but if one looked closely, one could see that they had been made to be more durable than anything that was made in the area... And the fact that some the fastenings were made of solid gold didn't help his predicament...

He gave Anzu and Yugi a sheepish look as he realized that they too had noticed his unusual clothes. Anzu simply smiled and tossed a pear to him. "Here, we were just having breakfast."

"Thanks." Yami took a bite. When he swallowed, he grinned at them. "This is pretty good."

Yugi nodded. "Yeah, this stand's usually a good spot to get a picking, especially this time of year."

Anzu nodded as well. "And especially since this shopkeeper is so easy to distract." He commented, giving his friend a high five.

"Distract? So, you two are thieves as well?" Yami blinked at them. "Is that why those other thieves left me alone when you talked to me?"

"Yup! It's not much of a life, but it's better than that." Anzu gestured to the slave camps nearby. "That's what we escaped from when we were young, and I try my best to make sure they don't have turn thief as well. Speaking of which, I was going to go get some food for them soon. Would you like to come with?"

Yami's gaze was transfixed on the camp. Slaves turned thieves? He had never considered that before... Slowly, he grinned at Anzu. "That's a good idea. Sure, I'll come with." He said, not sure why he was agreeing to this. There was something in those blue eyes that urged him to do so...

"Eh, I'll come too. For once." Yugi smiled at them, brushing some dust off his hands. "But just because the newbie's hanging around. I wouldn't want him to get caught."

Yami turned red again and the other two laughed.

"I'm just kidding, Atem. Come on!"

(Poinky Dead Divider)

An old woman paused in her work and wiped sweat from her forehead she smiled when she saw a teenage boy treading cautiously behind the back of one of the guards and she urged him over to her.

He came, hiding from the guard's sight behind the slab of sandstone the woman was working on, and handed her a leather skin full of water. She drank gratefully, then passed it back.

"You with Anzu today, young man?"

Yami nodded. "How did you know?"

"She's always bringing us things, and she always tries to get others to help her too. How many are tagging along with her this time?"

"Me and another, Yugi."

"Ah yes. Yugi and Anzu escaped from this slave camp together almost 10 years ago now with their friend Malik and another boy, Bakura." She laughed at Yami's surprise at the name. "Yes, I see you know Thief King Bakura."

"I know of no one who hasn't." Yami said honestly. He had often heard his father speaking of the thief who was trying to ruin him with his attempt to steal the Millennium Items...

Yami wasn't used to being able to just sit and chat with people, so he was feeling slightly uncomfortable and wanted very much to continue on his sudden quest to help Anzu give food out to these people. But the old woman seemed content to have somebody to talk to for a while as she went back to work on her stone block, so he stayed to be polite.

"Yes, he was the one who started trying to gather followers among the other children in the slave camp to try and get away. Anzu, Malik, and Yugi were the only ones who followed him. Those three were all friends, and still are to my knowledge. Bakura always was a loner, though."

"He seems to have enough followers now, though." Yami commented, glancing at the guard.

"Followers, yes, but not friends. That's the difference, eh?" She didn't wait for a response, but continued to chat. "And that Anzu, ah I remember when she was just a little girl, this big." She held her hand up to the approximate height of a toddler.

Yami started. "Girl? Then Anzu is...?"

"Female, yes. She doesn't flaunt this, obviously. Hard enough to be a thief, but to be a girl, too? Yes, she's had it rough, that Anzu. And yet she's still the nicest person I know, besides her two friends."

Yami smiled and nodded, catching Anzu's eye from across the camp where she was sitting beside a large basket, sharing a loaf of bread with a small child. She smiled back at him and continued talking with the child.

"Hey, you there! With the spiky hair!" Yami's head jerked up and he found himself suddenly making eye contact with a guard a ways off.

"Nice talking with you, bye!" Yami stood, turned around and began to run, sticking his fingers in his mouth and whistling shrilly. This signaled Yugi and Anzu that it was time to go.

Yami twisted his way through the groups of slaves who were working as he made his way to the entrance to the camp. The people, rather than impeding his progress to help the guards, subtly shifted themselves to let him through, then formed a tight pack that would delay his pursuers.

Yami grinned at how supportive the people were as he ducked through the back of a shop stall vaulted over the counter into a surprised group of people, and began to run as fast as he could through the crowded marketplace.

Taking shortcuts through alleyways and following Yugi or Anzu when he caught sight of them, the guards were getting further and further behind. When the three of them pulled themselves up onto a rooftop somewhere near the middle of the city, where a small shelter had been set up, they all started laughing.

"That was great! I haven't had that much fun since I accidentally set my friend's robe on fire!" Yami gasped.

Anzu laughed. "The guards get dumber every time. It's no wonder they've never managed to find my little house here."

Yugi pushed a blanket on the shelter aside, revealing two mattresses and a table that had eating utensils set out neatly along with a few rolls. The walls were decorated with various pictures and ornaments. The place was quite spacious, and there was plenty of room to stand and walk around inside.

"So you two set this place up?" Yami asked with curiosity, looking around at everything..

"Well, Anzu did mostly." Yugi admitted. "She's the one who's convinced that the best hiding spot is up high."

"Nobody ever looks up." Anzu said with a smile.

"It's really nice." Yami complimented. "A lot better than I could make anyway..."

Anzu watched him for a moment before responding. "Thanks." Her tone was somewhat tense as she said this and Yami turned from admiring one of the ornaments to look over at her, trying to figure out what was bothering her. Their eyes met and Anzu smiled slowly at him.

Yugi looked from one to the other, giving them both a strange look. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was very suddenly interrupted by numerous loud shouts as guards poured onto the rooftop and surrounded the shelter, blocking them in.

Several guards ran into the shelter itself and forced the three of them out into the sea of guards.

Trying to fight against that many people proved utterly useless, and soon Yami, Anzu, and Yugi were pushed roughly to the front of the group, their arms held fast behind them, until they came to a stop before the captain of the guard, a man that Yami knew to be named Honda.

"Well, well, we finally caught the slave thief, Anzu and two of his many cohorts." He laughed.

Yami yanked his arms free from the man behind him and stepped up to the captain. "Let us go." He ordered.

Honda smirked at him. "Don't backtalk, slave." He swiftly slapped Yami across the face, forcing his head down with the blow.

Yami's eyes smoldered with anger as he slowly raised his head. "Release us." He repeated. "By order of the Crown Prince of Egypt." With this, Yami swept off his cloak, seeming to trigger a brilliant flash of light. When it faded, the Millennium Symbol was upon Yami's forehead, and his hands were holding up a golden pendant that was hanging around his neck; it was easily recognizable as the Millennium Puzzle.

All of the guards gasped in surprise. Captain Honda's eyes opened wide and he dropped down to both knees, bowing as low as he could. The other guards also bowed, forcing Anzu and Yugi, who were both simply staring at him with slight shock, to do the same.

"My prince. I beg thee for thy forgiveness." Honda said in a hushed and revered tone, keeping his eyes trained on Yami's shoes.

"Just let us go." Yami was quickly growing even more annoyed with the sudden 'worship' he was receiving than he was when he had been treated like any other person.

"I am truly sorry, my liege... the other we can spare, but my orders were specifically to bring this particular thief directly to Priest Seth. You shall have to speak with him about it." He nodded his head lower and then stood, the other guards standing with him. He pulled out a whistle and blew on it hard, signaling his last group to return to him. Then, he and his minions trooped off, dragging a still stunned Anzu along with them.

Yami glared after them, almost tempted to use shadow magic on them to force them to let her go, but he stopped himself with a frustrated sigh. Priest Seth, being his teacher and the High Priest of the group, was second only to the Pharaoh, and this meant that Yami could not override his orders until he became Pharaoh.

Instead, it seemed that it was time for a serious chat with a certain High Priest...

(Poinky Dead Divider)

(A/n: Beginning to look more like Aladdin now, ne?)


	3. The Cave of Wonders

"Are you ok, Yugi?" Yami asked, helping him to his feet.

"I... but you... but..." Yugi stammered, staring at Yami. He swallowed and bowed his head. "I'm fine, your Majesty."

Yami frowned. "Don't call me that, please. I came out here to get away from all that." He sighed and tucked the puzzle beneath the folds of his clothes. "Although I suppose I didn't do a very good job of it. I just ended up getting you guys in trouble."

Yugi shrugged. "It wouldn't be so bad if the Pharaoh didn't do the judging of thieves with the Millennium Items..." he said, thinking aloud.

"The Millennium Items being used on street thieves?" Yami asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who told you that?"

Yugi looked up at him, confused. "Well, they do public displays sometimes. I've seen it myself. Didn't you know, sir?"

"No. Who is 'they'?" Yami's eyes narrowed in thought. "The priests? Surely not my father, he gave me his Millennium Puzzle before he left on his trip so that I could begin my training with Seth..."

Yami's mention of his father sent Yugi back into silence, staring at the ground in embarrassment as he realized that Yami's father was the Pharaoh.

"I just want to say, Atem.. I-I mean, Prince Yami... I'm sorry for my behavior earlier, I was pretty rude to you, if I had but known, I-"

Yami cut him off with a shake of his head. "If you had known, you would have spent the entire morning walking on eggshells, like you are now. I told you, I don't like all the formality." He took Yugi by the shoulders. "I'm just a person, Yugi, whether my name is Atem or whether it's Yami."

Yugi blinked at him. "All right. Yami." He gave him a half smile, then looked away, biting his lip. "But Anzu..." he trailed off.

He jumped when Yami placed his hand on his shoulder again. "I will get Anzu freed." Yami vowed. "And, Yugi... I'm really sorry for the trouble I caused. Really."

Yami got another half smile in return, then he turned and began running back toward the palace, where the guards had taken off to. Yugi watched him go, still in awe at his new friend's identity. A few moments later, he also began heading to the palace, hoping to hear some news of Anzu and, if Yami didn't come through, rescue her if he could.

There was no way he was going to let his best friend be forced into a shadow game with the priests!

(And thus ends probably the only scene where Yugi and Yami actually talk to one another. (sweatdrop))

(Divider)

"Seth, I need to talk to you. Now."

The high priest sighed in irritation, but stopped at the voice behind him. "What whining and complaining are you going to do now, prince?"

Yami's eyes narrowed. "I think you know. Where is the prisoner your guards captured earlier today? They said you asked for this one specifically."

Seth turned. "In the dungeon with the rest of the prisoners. Go down and visit her if you want. Won't be much to talk to, though. She had a pretty rough Shadow Judgment."

A growl escaped Yami's lips and he vaguely noted that he knew that she was a girl. That probably meant that he had seen her earlier today, or had known of her previously. "What did you do to her, Seth? Father forbade the use of the Millennium Items on our citizens unless they had committed a crime worthy of the punishment."

"Strangely enough, my prince, he had a... change of heart... right before he left on his trip. He told me that the item's judging powers probably would not harm those who were innocent, and that I should use them just in case the prisoners had done something punishable. With the girl in the condition that she is, she obviously did." Seth smirked at him. "Anything else, or can I go back to what I was doing?"

Yami growled again. "Why did you ask for her specifically to be captured? Surely she's no worse than any of the other thieves in the area."

Surprisingly, Seth hesitated a moment before regaining his mask of indifference and answering coolly, "I didn't ask for her specifically. You were missing, presumed kidnapped. I simply ordered them to bring me the ones found with you as your kidnapper. Obviously, I was mistaken in that regard, but not of the slave thief's intentions. Now excuse me, I have more important things to do." He turned and strode off down the corridor, his robes swirling around his ankles angrily.

Yami glared at his retreating back, wanting to make another retort but unable to because the high priest was now disappearing from sight. He sighed, muttering the retort to himself instead. "Right. If that were true, Yugi would have been taken as well. Obviously, that means that he did want Anzu for a reason, which also means that she probably didn't get a judging from the Millennium Items. He's trying to make me stop searching for her for some reason... I'd better check the dungeons, anyway, to see if I can find her..."

(Divider)

Anzu groaned and shifted positions, only to find that she couldn't move much. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around her, grimacing when she realized that she must be in the palace dungeons. Her arms were chained up above her head, and though she was in a sitting position, her ankles were chained to the floor. Her mind still fuzzy, she tried to recall what had happened.

Got captured... Brought to palace... fear of the Shadow punishment... which never happened... presented briefly to the high priest... knocked out and, apparently, brought here...

Why had she been captured? What had happened? She had gotten back from the slave camp with Yugi, and another... The guards swarmed the shelter... And then he...

Now she remembered. She looked down at her feet. Crown Prince Yami. The teenage boy she had been becoming friends with, the one whose eyes had that strange effect on her, was royalty. She clanked her chained hands on the wall above her angrily.

How could she have been so stupid! She had been to parades where the royal family was there. She had been to the slave camps near the palace and had heard the giggling of the girls about the prince's looks, about his hair and his handsomeness both. Had seen the prince herself on occasion while following Malik on one of his excursions of the palace. Why hadn't she recognized him? It's not like that hairstyle was common, even if Yugi had a very similar one...

She sighed as the answer came to her. Before, he had always been dressed in bright, catchy gold and expensive glittering capes and robes. The very fact that he was the prince had led her not to pay attention to him and instead focus on those people in social groups she could actually hope to be in.

Now... He had been just another person, and his kindness and his eyes had stood out more than the flashy clothes ever had to her. She smiled, remembering how their eyes had met on several occasions throughout the afternoon, each time sending a strange happy, jittery feeling through her, especially when he smiled. No one else had ever made her feel that way before...

She abruptly found herself grounded back in reality. He was the prince. He would never feel the same way about a common girl, and especially not to a thief. She bit her lip in thought, realizing that maybe the thief part wasn't true. After all, he had gone with them when they went and stole a few things to give to the slaves, and he didn't seem disgusted or anything then...

She shook herself again. That aside, a prince, especially the crown prince of Egypt, had to marry a princess. Would probably only settle for a princess, even without the law.

A loud clanking sound startled her and she looked around for the source of the noise. At first she saw nothing, but then noticed a metal bar on the floor that hadn't been there before and she looked up to find a window. She watched it carefully, and eventually a familiar spiky-haired head poked its way in. "Anzu?"

"Yugi! Hey, get me out of here, quick, before the guards notice." Anzu sighed in relief at her friend's appearance.

Yugi nodded and slipped in, swinging from the ledge to the ground and hurrying over to her, lock picks in hand. "Hey. Atem, Yami, whoever he is, said he was gunna try and get you outta here, but I don't trust him, so I came to get you myself." He explained.

"He wanted me released? But why?" Anzu asked, perplexed.

"Said he owed it to us for getting us into trouble or something like that," Yugi said shortly. One of the chains came free and he started on the next one.

"Oh." She said vaguely, wondering why that made her feel disappointed. "Thanks for coming to help me. I don't know what I would do without you, Yuge."

Yugi just shrugged. The other chain came loose. Anzu pulled free and they both began to work on the ones holding her feet in silence. These easily came free and soon Anzu was on her feet and the two headed back towards the window.

"Wait!" a voice called from the darkness. They both turned, curious.

"Yes?" Anzu asked.

An old man heaved himself to his feet and hobbled his way slowly out of the corner of the room to where they were standing. "Please, help me out as well. I know of a few passageways here to avoid the guards, and I can reward you handsomely."

Anzu nodded, but Yugi hesitated. "Anzu, he'll slow us down. Lookit how slow he walks. One of us would have to carry him, and I can't do that."

"I'm not joking about the reward." The man said quickly. He reached into a fold in his clothes and pulled out several large, sparkling rubies. Yugi and Anzu stared. That handful would be enough to let them both live a comfortable life for the rest of their lives! "And there's more where that came from! I can take you to a place filled with treasure!"

Yugi couldn't find a disagreement to this, so Anzu hefted the man onto her back while Yugi steadied him, and they set off, following the man's whispered commands out of the palace and into the warm desert air.

Unbeknownst to the trio, the door of the dungeons opened just then, admitting an increasingly worried prince...

(Divider)

"What is this place, old man?" Yugi asked, gaping at the sight before him. The man had directed them out into the middle of the desert and then released a gold, glittering object which had flown forward, separated into two halves, and slammed itself into the sand a ways off, which then rose and became a huge lion head, its mouth wide open and its tongue forming steps down its throat.

"The Cave of Wonders," the man breathed, his eyes glittering. "Filled with treasure beyond your wildest imaginations."

Anzu stepped forward in a slight daze, gazing up at the lion's head. She was shocked a moment later when the lion began to speak.

"Who disturbs my slumber?" it demanded, its mouth returning to it's open position once it had spoken.

Anzu stammered, "A-ah, my name is Anzu, and this is Yugi and... well, I don't know who this is."

The lion nodded somehow. "The two young ones may enter, with a warning. Do not touch what does not concern you. The Diamond in the Rough is entitled to the lamp and the forbidden treasure. Those with the Diamond may touch only the lamp." The lion fell silent and the two thieves stepped forward nervously.

"The Diamond in the Rough? What's he talking about?" Yugi whispered.

"Only the one whom the cave has dubbed the Diamond in the Rough is allowed to enter the Cave of Wonders." The old man explained from his distance. "Apparently, that's one of you, presumably the one who did the introductions." He looked pleased with himself. "I, ah, have a request for you. The lamp it spoke of... May I have it?"

Anzu and Yugi glanced at each other, and Anzu shrugged. "I suppose... I mean, we'll get the 'forbidden treasure', whatever that is. A lamp is just a common light..."

The man's face broke out in a grin and Anzu continued. "Well, let's go see what this Cave of Wonders has in store for us," she suggested. The two youths strode inside the lion's mouth and started down the stairs.

Inside the room past the entrance stairs, the walls and floor were gilded with gold, and coins and precious jewels lay in mounds haphazardly throughout the available floor space. "Woooow," Yugi breathed, his eyes wide. "I feel like I'm in a royal treasury!"

Anzu nodded silently, feeling her mouth go dry.

"I mean, it's like I'm dreaming or something... This can't all be real, can it? I've gotta test it." He bent to pick up a coin.

"Wait!" Anzu whirled on him. Yugi froze, looking at her questioningly. "We don't know which one of us is the Diamond, so let's not take any chances. Let's just find that lamp thing first. We can examine the gold and stuff on the way out, so we can run for it if we need to."

Yugi nodded, going back to her side. "Good point. But where could the lamp be? It looks like there are rooms beyond this one, and for all we know this lamp could be buried underneath this stuff..."

Anzu shrugged. "We just have to look around for a while."

The two walked for a while, still staring at all the gold, but not daring to touch any of it. Yugi found it increasingly difficult to shake the feeling that they were both being watched. After a few minutes, he could take it no longer and he whirled around, glancing around and trying to see who could possibly be watching.

Anzu noticed that he had stopped and she looked back at him. "What is it?" she asked.

Yugi didn't answer for a moment, just glancing back at her and creeping towards one of the gold piles. "I think there's someone here..."

"Didn't you hear the old man, Yugi? Only the Diamond can enter here, how would anybody but us be here?" Anzu looked a little annoyed.

"I don't know, but that doesn't change the fact that somebody's here..." Yugi said slowly, peeking behind the pile. "Huh. Nothing here but an old rolled up carpet..." He headed for another pile, still glancing about nervously.

"I think you're being paranoid." Anzu told him. Yet, as she turned around and began to walk forward again, she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye and began to feel the same ominous feeling.

Yugi looked up at her, then sighed. "I know I feel something, Anzu... I—GAH!"

Anzu whirled, looking to see what had startled her friend. "What, what is it?" she asked. Looking around, things looked the same as they had looked before, except that Yugi was now staring at a different pile of treasure.

"That carpet I saw... It's alive!" Yugi breathed. He crept behind the pile and dragged it out from behind it. The carpet began to squirm wildly, trying to escape.

Anzu stared. "Hey, that must be a magic carpet!" she exclaimed. Yugi let it go and it soared out of his arms and hid behind the gold mound again.

"Hey, little guy," Yugi called after it. "We don't want to hurt you, it's okay. I just don't like not knowing who's watching me. Come on, come out..."

Anzu smiled as an edge of the carpet peeked out from its hiding place. "That's funny, I've never seen a carpet act like it had a human personality before..." she said to herself.

The carpet flew out from behind the gold at her words and began gesturing wildly with one of its tasseled corners at her. She blinked. "What? Was it something I said?"

"Human personality... Hey, maybe that's it. Maybe this carpet used to be a human, and it was turned into a carpet." Yugi suggested. The carpet did a flip in midair and stretched its tassels out excitedly. Apparently, that was correct.

"Wow, sucks to be you, huh? Turned into a carpet..." Anzu said. The carpet shrugged with two of its corners and floated over to her, soaring around her several times, getting higher each time. "You like the flying part?" The carpet responded with an affirmative.

Yugi grinned. "That's pretty cool. Hey, are you part of the forbidden treasure thing that we're not supposed to touch, or can you give us a ride? We're looking for a lamp of some sort."

The carpet flew down to his waist level and gestured that he could get on, but then flew vertically again, so that if it had been a human it would be standing, and began pointing a tassel at first Anzu, then Yugi, then itself.

Anzu blinked. "What? What's that supposed to mean?"

The carpet twisted around and pointed at the design printed on its back. Anzu looked. The whole carpet was a deep purple with golden swirls in seemingly random places around it. In the center of the carpet was an intricately woven picture of the lion head at the top of the Cave of Wonders. In each corner was a stylized 'M'.

"Uh, it's very nice. What's it mean?" Yugi said, tracing one of the M's. The carpet flew around the two of them, then pointed at each of them individually again, and then at itself.

"Me, Yugi, and you. What about it? I don't understand what you're trying to tell us." Anzu gave it an apologetic smile.

The carpet gestured exasperatedly, then gave a sort of a shrug and indicated that they should ride it. Yugi and Anzu glanced at each other, shrugged, then got on.

Immediately, the carpet shot forward, swooping out of the large chamber that they were currently in and through a few smaller chambers before entering a part of the cave that actually resembled a cavern. Inside, there was a lake with a large island mountain in the center. A single, blue light was shining like a spotlight on the very top of the mountain, where a simple pedestal held an ordinary oil lamp.

The carpet stopped at the shore of the lake in front of some stepping stones that led to the mountain island.

"What, you can't fly us to the top of that?" Anzu asked. The carpet shrugged, but didn't move. Anzu sighed and got off. "Probably only one of us should head over there. Those stepping stones are kind of perilous, and no offense, Yugi, but I think you'd have trouble with them."

"Cause I'm short, right?" Yugi rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever."

So Yugi stayed with the carpet and Anzu began the trek across the lake and up the mountain. Strangely, it didn't take her very long to reach the top, and soon she was standing poised to pick up the lamp. It was a very simple oil lamp, with no fancy decorations or engravings. It looked just like something she could get from the marketplace without the owner ever noticing it was gone, it was so dull.

She frowned, then picked it up. It was somewhat warm, but she attributed that to the fact that it had been sitting in the light. She slipped the lamp into a pocket on the inside of her shirt and began to climb down, giving a thumbs up to Yugi, who was still standing by a wall next to the carpet, looking bored. There wasn't much to look at in this room, compared with all the treasure in the other ones.

As Anzu reached the bottom of the mountain, Yugi sighed and leaned against the wall, still watching her. "So, do you know why the cave made such a big deal about some stupid lamp?" he asked the carpet. It shrugged at him. Yugi wasn't sure if this meant that it didn't know, or that it couldn't talk and so would be unable to tell him anything.

He sighed again. "I just can't wait till we get back to the main room so we can get some of that treasure and get out of here," he said. The carpet rubbed two of its tassels together in response. Yugi eyed it. "You're a carpet. What would you do with treasure?" The carpet looked bummed.

Anzu hopped across the last step stone back to the main shore. "I got it. It's not much to look at, but I got it."

"Great." Yugi shifted, attempting to push himself away from the wall so he could head back to the carpet. Instead, his hand came across a rock that was jutting out of the wall that was pressed inward when he touched it. Abruptly, the wall behind him disappeared and he fell backwards into a pile of large rubies, sapphires, and diamonds.

"Ow! What the—" Yugi stopped when he realized what he had landed on. "Wow, nice." The ground beneath them began to shake. Yugi glanced around. "Uh oh..."

"**You have touched the forbidden treasure! Now you will never again see the light of day!**" the lion's fierce voice echoed around them.

"Double uh-oh. Let's get out of here!" Yugi jumped onto the carpet, followed closely by Anzu, vaguely noting that the precious stones he had been sitting on a moment ago had melted into an orange goop. The lights in the cavern had turned to red and the lake of water had turned to molten lava.

The carpet shot forward, obviously no more eager to be trapped in this place than the two humans were, and in what seemed no time at all, they had swooped once more into the large main chamber. It suddenly didn't look quite as grand as a wave of lava poured into the room hot on their heels, melting the mounds of treasure and collapsing the stairs. The carpet didn't need the stairs, however, and went straight for the entrance, dodging falling rocks from the ceiling.

It didn't dodge them well enough, however, and a large one crashed into the middle of the carpet, throwing its two occupants forward. Anzu and Yugi were just barely able to catch hold of the bottom of the entrance, where the old man was waiting. He lowered his stick down to them and began to pull them up. "Where's the lamp?" He cried over the lion's roaring.

"I've got it, pull us up!" Anzu cried.

"Give me the lamp first!"

Anzu stared at him, but pulled it out and thrust it upward. "There, it's yours. Now pull us up!"

"What are you waiting for?" Yugi cried.

The man grinned wickedly at them, his eyes glittering maliciously. He began to laugh and he snatched up the insignificant looking piece of metal. "Yes! The lamp is mine, mine at last!"

Yugi slowly but steadily made his way upward by pulling himself hand over hand up the man's stick. "Get over yourself and help us!" Yugi yelled angrily at him. He held out his hand, indicating that the old man should grab him and help him up.

The old man ignored him and instead pulled a knife out of his ragged robes. "Yes, yes, your reward." He cackled. He lunged at the helpless youths.

Yugi reacted instantly, hiding his surprise as he dodged the knife, grasping the man's wrist and using it to pull himself up the rest of the way. Using the momentum from this, he pulled the man down into the sand at his feet and gave him a kick, sending the knife skittering away from them both. Yugi turned and grabbed the man's stick, reaching down and starting to help Anzu up as well.

The old man recovered fast and threw himself on Yugi and the two wrestled for a moment before the man shoved with a surprisingly great force, sending Yugi careening over the edge, barely managing to catch a hold of one of Anzu's dangling legs. This pulled Anzu, who hadn't been able to see much of the exchange above her, off balance and the sudden sand everywhere surprised her into losing her grip on the edge. The two of them began to fall the great distance downward towards the already cooling lava that coated the floor below.

A short ways away, the carpet managed to free itself from the rock it was trapped under and flew to their rescue, catching them moments before they hit the floor. Their momentum still sent the carpet downward, causing the two of them to hit the ground hard enough to lose consciousness, but they were alive.

Alive, and trapped, as the entrance above them closed with a final roar from the lion's mouth. Things were not looking good.

(Divider)

A/n: I changed the dialogue between 'Jafar' and 'Jasmine', cause the original dialogue makes Jasmine sound rather ditzy and gullible...

And I changed what the old man says to 'Aladdin' and 'Abu', because, oh yeah, we're going to trust this strange old guy just because he's got rubies, oh and we'll ignore the fact that he's sitting in a cold dungeon even though he knows a secret passage out of the dungeon and into the desert! That's not suspicious at all! So I changed it. And yes, Yugi's supposed to be Abu. This is not meant to infer that Yugi is a monkey. u.u

I also changed what the lion of the cave of wonder says to 'Aladdin', because... Well, in the original, it says "Touch nothing but the lamp!" and then the old guy goes "Remember, bring me the lamp, and the rest of the treasure is yours!" but if he's not supposed to touch any of the other stuff... that makes Aladdin kinda dumb, cause he's giving away the only thing in there he's allowed to have.

And then I made the magic carpet actually be a person who's been turned into a carpet, so that I didn't have to type "the carpet" all the time, I could type the name of the person. You'll see who it is next chapter, this one's kind of long already... somehow... And also, next chapter, enter the Genie!

... And I changed the way the cave got mad at them. Sorry, but Yugi's no treasure obsessed Abu, so I had him fall on it instead. Woo. But I feel like I rather stole the entire rest of the scene straight from the movie. (ashamed)

And yay for long authoress notes!


	4. To Be a Princess

"Anzu? Anzu?" The teenage thief groaned as she regained consciousness to the sound of her friend's voice.

"Wha... where are we?" she muttered, her eyes fluttering open.

"Trapped in the stinking Cave of Wonders. Some wonders. More like the cave of no return." Yugi was grumbling, mostly to himself.

Anzu sat up and looked around her. The grand main chamber the room had started out as was gone, replaced by a cavern lit by a bluish glow, similar to the one they had found the lamp in. The entrance above was a mass of compacted sand, too high for them to reach anyway without the help of something that could fly...

Which reminded her suddenly of the magic carpet, which she looked around for and located hovering behind her, as if worried about her. She smiled at it, then looked back up at the ceiling.

"So, even if we manage to get out of here, we get nothing out of it," she sighed. "This whole thing was a waste, and we shouldn't have followed the old man here."

"We shouldn't have helped that traitorous man out of the dungeons in the first place," Yugi spat. "He tried to kill us up there."

The carpet glanced anxiously at the two of them, then tapped Anzu on the shoulder with a tassel. She glanced at it. "Oh, yeah. We did make friends with a magic carpet while we were down here. I don't suppose you know a way out?"

The carpet shrugged and Anzu sighed. "So we're still trapped here, and that old man still got what he came here for."

"No he didn't," Yugi said smugly. "He must have wanted that lamp really badly, so while I was wrestling with him up there, I grabbed it from him. We may be trapped, but at least he's not getting any satisfaction from it." He produced the lamp from an inside pocket.

"Yugi, you're a genius." Anzu smirked at him. "Here, let me see that. There's gotta be some reason he wanted it." Yugi handed it to her and she inspected it closely.

"See anything?" Yugi asked after a moment.

"Nope, it's all just smooth, probably made out of a light tin, with something else mixed to color it golden. It's just a cheap oil lamp. Probably couldn't sell the thing for more than- Wait... No, there seems to be something written here on the side, but it's all filled in with sand."

She began to rub the side of it and bits of sand flew off. "Be... ye... the... mas..." She read as she cleared the dust away. "Be ye the master of the lamp. But what does that mean?"

As if in answer, the lamp began to shake, glowing with a brilliant golden color and spouting bluish sparks from the end. Anzu was so surprised that she dropped it on the ground, where it continued to tremble on the ground. The sparks quickly created a blue mist that grew thicker and thicker like smoke and finally began to form a shape in the air above them.

Yugi and the carpet backed up a few steps, but Anzu seemed rooted to the spot, staring at the mass before her. The shape took on a definite form; a teenage boy sitting cross legged in the air , his head bowed and his eyes closed. Then the blue faded from the shape as it became solid instead of a smoky mist, and the boy gained coloring so that he looked just like a normal teenage boy, besides the fact that he was floating.

He was fairly good looking, with blonde hair that fell into his eyes. He was wearing a light, tan shirt and brown puffy pants. Around his neck was a strange, thin metal chain with a squared off flat metal disk attached to it. On each wrist was a large gold bracelet of some sort.

He opened his eyes, large and honey brown, and looked down at Anzu. "You rubbed the lamp?" he asked, his voice at once loud and smooth at the same time.

Anzu nodded silently, her eyes wide. The boy looked over her critically. "You seem somehow different from my last masters," he said vaguely. "But how... maybe... Oh, I see." He smiled at her. "A young woman! Usually only men manage to find my lamp. Well, nice to meet you, mistress!"

"Who are you?" she asked somewhat breathlessly after a moment. "And what do you mean by mistress, or master, or whatever?"

The boy smiled at her. "I am the all-powerful genie of the lamp. Whoever rubs the lamp gets three wishes. Hence, they become my master."

Anzu stared. "I get three wishes? Anything I want?" she turned to Yugi. "Hey, this is even better than rubies and gold, Yugi! It's no wonder that old man wanted the lamp! Anything in the world is ours now!"

Yugi just nodded slightly, his eyes on the genie.

"Eh, well not anything, per say. I've got a few rules that I have to follow." The genie smirked at them and stood firmly on the ground instead of hovering. "Just three though, don't worry. First, no wishing for more wishes. That loophole needed to be filled in right off the bat. Second, I can't bring anybody back from the dead. It can get kind of gruesome. And third, I can't make people fall in love. People's strong emotions are their own."

Yugi nodded. "Sounds reasonable. But say she wished that she would keep finding a different genie the moment she used her third wish?"

The genie scowled. "I repeat: ix-nay on the wishing for more wishes, in whatever form."

"Darn." Yugi shrugged. "So what're you going to wish for, Anzu?"

Anzu hummed distractedly, obviously thinking. While she was doing that, the genie turned to the carpet. "Say, I haven't seen you around before. What millennia did you get here?"

The carpet did a loop in the air and the genie nodded. "Wow, just a month or so, then? You're pretty lucky, it's been a few thousand years since I last got to stretch my legs..."

He noticed Yugi staring at him. "What, you don't speak rug?" he asked with a smirk. Yugi shook his head, smiling slightly.

"I didn't think anyone did," he admitted. "Say, it was trying to tell us something earlier and we couldn't figure it out. Could you translate?"

The carpet whirled in excitement and turned to the genie, who nodded at him. "Funny, he says he's a friend of yours. But I'm not sure how that could be..." The carpet rustled at him. "Oh, I see. He says he was hired by a tall, dark young man to get a medallion of sorts that, when he brought it to the man, opened up the Cave of Wonders. Only the cave's Diamond in the Rough can enter here without becoming trapped, and he was transformed into a carpet when the man ordered him to fetch my lamp."

"Transformed? Why?" Yugi asked.

"To add to the collection, of course. Over half the stuff in here is just transformed people," the genie said matter-of-factly. "He's lucky he's not a cup or something."

Yugi wrinkled his nose. "That's horrible." He thought for a moment, gazing at the carpet. "So, wait. You're a friend of mine, transformed into a carpet a few months ago. The only friend I have who's been missing for that long is..." Yugi's eyes widened. "Malik! The M's on the carpet stand for Malik!"

The carpet did a loop-de-loop and waved a tassel at him. Anzu frowned realizing that many of the carpets mannerisms were indeed similar to her friend Malik's. Then she smirked at him. "I maintain what I said earlier: It must suck being a carpet all of a sudden, Malik."

Malik looked vaguely annoyed. Or as annoyed as a carpet can look, anyway.

Anzu looked at the genie. "Say, since we're in the habit of revealing names... I'm Anzu, this is Yugi, and, apparently, this is Malik the carpet. What's your name? Or do we just stick to calling you 'the genie' all the time?"

The genie huffed. "My name is unpronounceable to mortals."

"Can I hear it anyway?"

"Jounokafenicatrasthaphanik," he said, smirking at her. (Spelling is an approximation, as the computer's keyboard does not contain the correct symbols for the genie language.) ... (Yay for stomping on the keyboard!)

She blinked. "Jou, then," she said, using the first syllable of the name. The genie looked offended and ready to retort, but Yugi cut him off.

"So, Anzu get three wishes, but they have limitations? I understand the no extra wishes thing, but what's with the other limits? Some all-powerful genie." Yugi gave Anzu a sidelong look.

Now Jou was steaming. Anzu caught on to what Yugi was doing and she smirked. It didn't take much to get Jou mad. "Yeah, he probably can't even get us out of this cave. Come on, guys, lets see if we can find our own way out of here..."

Jou exploded. Literally. The blue mist formed up and up and lightning flashed around, then the genie appeared again, standing right in Anzu's face. His voice was filled with anger and annoyance. "Hey. You rubbed the lamp; You woke me up; You're getting your wishes whether you like it or not, so SIT DOWN!"

Anzu sat in shock, and the carpet was underneath her, apparently magicked there by the genie. Yugi also climbed on board, smirking at the fact that they were using their friend as transportation. Immediately, the genie appeared, also sitting on the edge of the carpet. His bout of anger had disappeared as fast as he himself had a moment ago, and he seemed intent on showing off his magic.

"Hold on tight, this is going to be a bumpy ride! And we... are... Outta here!" Malik shot upward towards the compacted sand above, they pressed through it, and magically they were free!

(Divider)

Yami stalked toward his rooms, upset that the dungeons had been completely devoid of people except for a few who had obviously been mind crushed and couldn't tell him anything. He had just reached the doorway when he heard a voice behind him calling his name.

He stiffened, turning formally and bowing his head to the newcomer. "Hello, my Pharaoh. It is good to see you again. How was your trip?"

The Pharaoh smiled at him and gestured for him to go into his room, then followed him in. Then he sat on a large cushiony chair and faced his son. "Business as usual. I'll have to take you on one soon, Yami, so you can get a feel for them. Now, about your own adventures..."

Yami ducked his head. "I... which one?"

There came a laugh from the elder of the two. "Both of them. Want to tell me about it?"

The laugh told Yami that his father wasn't mad at him, so he sighed and plowed into his story. "I... Well, I met the princess there, but she was just as much of a prissy snob as the others, and I couldn't even get her to leave me alone long enough to have private prayers to the gods at night. And I could tell by the way she looked at me that she only wanted to be with me because I'm rich, and because I'm going to be Pharaoh one day. Father, I just can't marry someone like that." Yami looked up at his father, hoping he understood what he was trying to say.

The Pharaoh smiled. "So with only a few weeks before your eighteenth birthday, you don't have a bride, and you run away from home to get away from that responsibility?"

"I wanted to try to blend in for a while. To find someone who would like me for just me, and not because I'm the prince." Yami admitted. "It didn't work very well, though."

"Oh? Are you referring to Captain Honda?" the Pharaoh asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Don't blame him for it, Father. I was trying to blend in." Yami said with some amusement, rubbing his cheek where he had been hit. "I guess I did too good of a job, cause he mistook me for one of Anzu's thief underlings."

"What were you doing hanging out with thieves, of all people?" his father asked with some concern.

"They were thieves, yes, but their hearts were in the right place." Yami told him a little about Anzu's commitment to helping the slaves. The Pharaoh nodded thoughtfully.

"But I guess Anzu can't do anything to help them now." Yami said bitterly. "Because of me. Seth said she had been shadow judged and put in the dungeon to recover, and now I can't find her anywhere. Which reminds me, Father... Did you know that Seth and the other priests have been doing shadow judgments on just ordinary street thieves?"

The Pharaoh's eyes gained a clouded look and he nodded. "Yes." He said slowly. "I gave them permission to. It's for the best interests of the people if we weed out the bad intentions of the people."

Yami eyed him. "Really. But you always said before that-"

"I know, but I see now that I was wrong." The Pharaoh still looked distant. Then he blinked and his eyes cleared. "But about the thief girl... Her interest in keeping the slaves happy and healthy is a good one. Happy workers make productive workers, after all. I will start sending the slaves more food myself, so that it doesn't have to be stolen." He laughed. "Obviously, there seems to be enough food to go to them, or I'd be getting reports of famine."

Yami smiled at that. "Thank you, Father. That would make Anzu very happy. If only I could figure out what Seth has done with her..."

"Done with her? I thought you said she was shadow judged." Now his father looked confused, and Yami explained his misgivings about Seth's explanations, as well as Anzu's absence from the dungeons.

The Pharaoh looked troubled.

"Hmm. Well, Seth always has been one to conduct odd experiments. I heard from one of the servants that just a few nights ago, they could hear thunder and lightning, though the night was clear." He frowned. "It's very possible that he used her as... a sacrifice of sorts."

Yami scowled. "He better not have," he growled.

His father sighed and placed a hand on Yami's shoulder. "I'm sorry, my son, if you thought of her as a friend, but I did promise Seth that he could conduct his experiments as long as they continue to produce good results for the kingdom, and to him, Anzu was just another commoner, not a friend of yours."

Yami sighed as well, shaking off his father's hand and standing. "I'm... going to go walk around in the garden for a while."

The Pharaoh nodded. "Very well, son. I shall see you tonight at supper."

(Divider)

"Thank you for flying the Genie and Malik airlines, hope you enjoyed your trip, no need to thank me, of course." Jou hopped off the carpet and flopped on a hammock between two trees that had appeared there a moment before.

Yugi and Anzu got off the carpet, which flew a few circles before landing in front of the water in the oasis they had landed at, obviously tired.

"Not used to flying so much?" Anzu asked sympathetically. Malik lifted a tassel briefly and continued to lay there.

Yugi stretched and looked around. "Well, I suppose that didn't turn out so bad. So Anzu, what're you going to use your three wishes on?"

There came a snort from Jou and he opened one eye, holding up a hand. "Two wishes," he said matter-of-factly.

"Three." Anzu clarified with a smirk. "I never actually asked you to get us out of the cave. You did that on your own."

Jou attempted to get out of the hammock very fast, which resulted in it flipping over a few times and depositing him unceremoniously on the ground. "Hey, now wait just a minute here," he said angrily. "I... I..."

But then he thought about it for a second and sighed bitterly. "Fine, three wishes. But no more freebies. I've got my eye on you, so don't think you'll pull that one twice."

Yugi laughed and Anzu smiled. "I understand completely."

"So, seriously, Anzu. Anything in the world could be yours, so what are you going to wish for first?" Yugi asked excitedly. Malik perked up a little to hear her answer.

Anzu glanced at her carpeted friend. "Um, well. Malik?"

Malik gave her a no signal and lifted off the ground to hover a few inches before coming down again. Jou glanced at him, getting back on his hammock. "He says he doesn't want you to waste your wishes on him, since he's getting used to it anyway."

Anzu nodded. "I understand, Malik. But I-" Malik gave her a reaction that required no translation and she frowned. "All right, if you say so."

She fell deep into thought, beginning to pace before the water before stopping and watching her reflection. "I don't know. What would you wish for, Yugi?"

Yugi shrugged. "I dunno. To be able to live in a palace with servants to wait on my every beck and call would be kinda nice."

Anzu smiled at him. "hmm. Hey, what about you, Jou? I mean, you haven't been a thief all your life, so you should have a different view of good wishes... What would you want if you had a wish?"

Jou almost fell out of the hammock again. "You're asking me for my opinion?" he asked, flustered. "No one's ever asked me that before."

Yugi gave him a sideways look. "Why wouldn't they? You're the one who's had a chance to see what wishes people have made that actually made them happy."

"And besides, I imagine that everybody has something they want in the world..." Anzu added.

One side of Jou's mouth lifted in a half-smile. "Yes, I suppose..." he said, somewhat to himself. There was silence for a little while, then he spoke softly. "Freedom," he whispered.

"Freedom? From...?" Anzu frowned and picked up the lamp, holding it gingerly. "The lamp holds you prisoner?"

Jou nodded slowly. "Yup. You wouldn't think it, but genies get a pretty rotten deal. We have phenomenal cosmic powers, but we can't use it unless the master orders us to. And whatever they ask us to do, we have to do, whether we want to or not. We are slaves, to the lamp we live in, and to our masters." He sighed.

"Wow, that sucks," Yugi said. "Um... Anything we can do to help?"

Jou shook his head. "Not you, no. I can only be free if my master wishes for me to be free." He scoffed. "You can see how often that's happened."

"I'll set you free." Anzu said.

Jou rolled his eyes. "Right, I believe you." He didn't even sit up.

She frowned at him. "No, really. Once I've made my first two wishes, I'll use my last one to set you free. I'm a thief, I know how to get the most out of things, so just two will work for me."

Now Jou leaned up on one elbow and gave her a hard look. "You really are serious, aren't you?" Anzu nodded hard and a slow smile spread across the genie's face.

Yugi grinned. "Of course she is. For as long as I've known her, Anzu has been the one who will do anything to help just about anybody in need."

Jou got up off the hammock, which disappeared with a small poof of smoke a moment later, and rolled up his already short sleeves in an exaggerated gesture. "All right! Let's get those wishes for you, then!"

Anzu laughed. "Okay. Let me just think a moment." She closed her eyes and frowned, thinking hard.

"Just think, 'What do I want most?' Anzu, and hurry up about it," Yugi chided.

She opened her eyes and glanced at Yugi before turning to the genie. "Well, this is kind of off the top of my head, but... Well, there's this guy who-"

Jou stopped her. "No can do, girl. I can't make people fall in love."

"Oh, I know, but if there were the right circumstances..." She trailed off, then blushed when she realized that Yugi was staring at her. "What?"

"You've going to use the wish of an all powerful genie to get a guy?" he asked incredulously.

"Eh, not just any guy. A totally unreachable guy," she said somewhat glumly.

"Are you talking about Yami?" Yugi asked with a slight wrinkle of his nose. "I thought I saw that look in your eye before. But Anzu, he's a prince, and he can only marry a..." Now he trailed off, understanding.

Anzu nodded, smirking. "Yami can only marry a princess. And princesses are rich. So I'll be killing two birds with one stone. Jou, for my first wish, I wish to be a princess!"

Jou grinned. "Okay, can do! Now let's see, what's first? Hmm, hair, I think." He circled Anzu for a moment before making a gesture at her short cropped hair, which grew immediately to the length it might have achieved had she never cut it, and twisted itself into a long ponytail. It now fell just a little longer than waist length.

The genie considered this for a moment, glancing at Yugi's expression, then decided, "Nah, too long of hair doesn't suit you." He made another gesture and her hair changed to shoulder length, held out of her face by a glittering headband. "Yes, that's better. And now, the clothes. We're looking for a 'princess' look, but not too fancy, because in order for you to meet this Yami of yours, you'll have to seem to be traveling from your kingdom to his."

Anzu's clothing morphed around her, becoming a light, long shirt with short sleeves and silky pants that clung to her hips and fell loose around her legs. The clothing complimented her new looks, and she was very pretty.

Yugi smirked, looking her up and down and whistling softly. "Nice, Anzu. Wow, you really are a girl."

She turned slightly red, not used to compliments of this sort, or to the way he was looking at her. "Knock it off, pervert," she shot at him.

Jou laughed. "Okay, there's the looks, now for everything else that goes with being a princess. And the first thing for that would be an escort/bodyguard." He turned to Yugi, who gulped slightly, taking a step backwards.

This provoked another laugh from the genie. "Don't worry, I won't turn you into an elephant or anything." He made an elaborate hand movement and a poof of blue smoke concealed the shorter boy for a moment before clearing and revealing that he was now dressed in an outfit befitting an ambassador: expensive-looking pants combined with a loose shirt and a vest. His hair, transformed to a brown color to make sure nobody would recognize it, was now neatly styled, pulled down out of the spikes into a ponytail at the base of his neck.

Yugi coughed, using one hand to clear the smoke away, then blinked at himself in a mirror that had just appeared in front of him.

Jou looked him over and gave him a thumbs-up. "Looking good. Okay, final item of business! We're going to go meet your Prince friend in style." He smirked, sparks of magic dancing in his hands. "And we're going all out!"

(Divider)

Yay! Jou's the genie! Yay! Malik's the carpet! Yay! Anzu's a princess! Yay! Yugi's a pervert! Er, I mean an elephant! Er... Oh, whatever.

And yes! I finally finished this evil, evil chapter! Muahahahahaha! u.u I feel like pretty much the whole chapter was just ripping off the movie. Oh well, hope you liked it! Please review!

Oh, and just a small side note, I made a teensy change to the chapter that probably nobody will notice, but I'm not sure how the author alert things work, so if it sends you all alerts for this, sorry!


	5. Screwing Things Up

"I just don't know what I'm going to do, Seth." The Pharaoh sighed. The High Priest, Seth, stood a short ways off, listening to his complaints with a raised eyebrow.

"About what, sir?" he inquired.

"You know what. I understand what Yami's going through, trying to find a wife who actually wants to be around him, but he's cutting this awfully close." He chuckled wryly. "Now I know what my father felt like."

Seth smiled at him. "Actually, sir, I think I might have a solution to the problem."

The Pharaoh rose up slightly. "Oh, really?"

"Instead of limiting him exclusively to princesses, why don't we extend his choices to the priestesses? They might not hold as much political power as a princess, but in terms of shadow magic, a priestess is formidable, and the people will respect that."

The Pharaoh nodded slowly, frowning in thought. "It is a good suggestion. It would probably have been a better solution a few months ago, when he had more time to choose. Now, it might actually be better just to pick out a princess that we know the people will approve of."

"Perhaps," Seth conceded softly. "But even if it does come down to an arranged marriage, you could still choose a priestess. It might be better to choose someone at least vaguely to your son's tastes, and I have noticed that Yami seemed to be getting along well with Priestess Ishizu as of late, for example."

"Ishizu? True, the two of them have been friends since he was little, but she's so much older than he is. (1) Friends are all they are."

"That may be true. But perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures?" Seth pressed. For a split second, a hardly noticeable light flashed under his robes.

The Pharaoh opened his mouth to respond, but just then, a messenger came scurrying into the room. "Your Highness, a royal train approaches from the west! Their advance messengers send word that Princess Teana of the Siwa Oasis Kingdom requests a meeting with the Pharaoh and, specifically, with his son."

Seth scowled, but the Pharaoh looked interested. "Did she say what for?"

"No, your Highness. But her intentions were rather clear. She wishes to meet the prince."

"Hmm. Go send for Prince Yami, then, and set up guest rooms and refreshment for our visitors. I believe the prince is in the outer gardens."

"Yes, your Highness." The messenger left.

Now the Pharaoh turned back to his High Priest. "This is interesting. Maybe we'll get lucky, and my son can marry a princess after all."

Seth had a sour look on his face. "Indeed."

(Poinky Dead Divider)

"Prince Yami, your father requires your presence."

Yami turned to the servant heading towards him. "Really? He told me earlier that he would see me at supper."

"There is a train of people coming from the west, my prince. A train headed by the Princess Teana." The servant said significantly.

Yami's face fell. "Oh, great. So Father wants me to meet her, I suppose?"

"Yes, my prince. Your presence was requested by the princess herself."

Now he groaned. "That's even worse. She probably thinks I'll just fall head over heels for her at first sight, so she won't leave me alone for the week or so she'll be obligated to stay here." He stood and brushed himself off. The servant noted Yami's bad mood and scuttled off somewhere, after a deep bow to his prince.

Slowly, Yami headed for the palace, which was some distance away. If he was lucky, he would arrive there after the train did, so that he could sneak in unnoticed and not have to deal with the dumb introductions.

As he approached, he saw the train just entering the palace's main gates, and he smirked. So far, so good.

He really didn't want to deal with yet another pushy princess right now, not when he was still mentally plotting appropriate torture devices for Seth and his stupid so-called experiments.

Not, he sighed to himself, that his father would ever let him use any of these torture devices, even if they did actually exist; not for the loss of a simple peasant girl, much less a thief. Even if he did happen to have liked her.

He slipped in to a side entrance and walked along the empty corridors, glad for the absence of people the unexpected train had brought. Finally, though, he reached the main throne room, where the Pharaoh was standing beside High Priest Seth, talking with a young woman who was, apparently, the Princess Teana, and another young man who must be her escort.

The rest of her train had obviously been directed to another of the palace's rooms while the princess had her private interview with the Pharaoh. Just as he entered, the talking was changing from formal introductions to casual chatter, and instead of going in, he motioned at the entrance's guard not to announce his presence and leaned against the doorframe to listen in on them and to observe.

"So what brings you here to our kingdom, Princess Teana?"

The girl looked embarrassed. "My father," she answered slowly. "He wants me to get married so that my husband will be able to take control of our province when the time comes... So he sent me with my little train to take a tour of Egypt and, unofficially, to find a husband."

Yami snorted to himself. At least she wasn't going to beat around the bush about it. She had made her intentions very clear.

The Pharaoh laughed at her forwardness. "I'll have you know, I've been trying to get the Prince to find a wife for a long time now, but he doesn't seem to like any he's met so far."

Teana nodded to him, smiling a little. "Well, I hope he'll like me, but I doubt it. I'm different from most princesses..." She turned her attention now to some of the decorations and statues around the large throne room and began to politely ask questions about them. Yami deemed it time to enter, deciding that it couldn't be put off much longer.

He walked past the doorway and started into the room. The guard, startled at his sudden movement, called out quickly, "Prince Yami has arrived, my Pharaoh!"

Yami's father nodded at the guard, then gestured for Yami to come stand beside him. Teana turned to face him, looking suddenly stiff for some reason.

"Pleased to meet you, Prince Yami. I am Princess Teana, from Siwa." She bowed her head to him politely, then turned and gestured to the brown-haired man standing beside her. "And this is my bodyguard, Yu."

Yami blinked at her. "Me? What?"

The man coughed in amusement. "My name's Yu. Y-U."

Yami nodded, understanding now. "Oh, I see." He looked the man over briefly, vaguely wondering why this princess had bothered to introduce him, and then he returned his attention to the young woman. "So, I hear you wanted to meet me?"

Teana smiled and curtsied. "I did. I have heard many great things about the Prince of Egypt, and I wanted to see for myself." Yu rolled his eyes, but said nothing, crossing his arms in slight boredom.

Yami turned halfway back toward the door to hide his annoyance at the obvious attempt at flattery. "Would you like to take a walk in the gardens, then? So that my father doesn't procure any embarrassing stories about me in front of everyone?"

Actually, he was suggesting this so that he could get away from Seth, who would be sure to tease him about the encounter later. But he didn't want her to know that.

The girl smiled warmly and nodded. "Of course, Prince." She turned to the Pharaoh. "I hope you will excuse us..?"

He nodded at her, giving the two of them permission to leave. Yami bowed respectfully to his father, noting with some curiosity that Seth was glaring at Teana for some reason, and then began to walk out of the room. Teana and her bodyguard followed swiftly after him.

Once the three of them were a good ways into the gardens, and Yami had deemed that there was nobody else around, he sat down by a fountain. Teana sat beside him uncertainly, looking into the water, and Yu stood beside her, deciding not to sit.

Now Yami turned to her, coming up suddenly with a way that would make her leave him alone. Deciding to get this and any bad feelings that would probably arise from it out of the way quickly, he began to speak. "Teana, I have something I need to tell you."

She turned to him, a little startled. Curiosity and a little hope burned in her eyes, making Yami pause for a moment before continuing. "You see, you've made it very clear that you've come here specifically to meet me, and to try and get me to want to marry you. Right?"

Teana's face burned red and she nodded slightly. "Yes, well, you see-"

He interrupted her, continuing what he was saying. "I just thought you should know, then, that I have no interest in marrying you, or anyone right now."

The hope in her eyes died a little and she began to stammer, "But you don't even know me, how could you know if..." A look from Yami silenced her and she glanced down at the water again.

Yami also looked down at the water. "I met a girl, and I fell in love with her... Then she was charged of a crime she didn't do, and she was taken away. Nobody has told me the truth about what happened to her, but I suspect..."

"Oh." Teana looked uncomfortable, like she didn't know what to say. Which, considering the suddenness of what he had just told her, was understandable. "I... see... I'm sorry for your loss, then." There was a long pause as she collected herself, then she asked slowly, "If I may... Who was she?"

Yami frowned and stood. "You wouldn't know her, so why ask? Good day, Teana." He nodded to her, then to Yu, and then quickly strode away, leaving Teana to stare into the water.

(Poinky Dead Divider)

When he was some distance away, he sat down again, this time underneath a sturdy tree, leaning up against it and shutting his eyes with a sigh. "Well, there goes that brilliant plan down the hole. I can see it now, she'll be following me around everywhere, trying to get more information from me about Anzu, then trying to convince me she has the same traits and she'd be just as good."

He threw a stick as hard as he could and it bounced sharply off a tree trunk and into a patch of bushes. A frightened chameleon scurried away. (2)

Now he just stared down at his hands, suddenly realizing. "I told her I fell in love with Anzu... and I guess I just didn't let myself figure it out in all the hustle and bustle... But I now that I've admitted it, I can see it's true. I really did fall in love with her..."

He sighed again. "That means that the rest of what I told Teana was true too. I really do actually have a reason this time for not wanting to get married... I just wish that it wasn't that reason..."

(Poinky Dead Divider)

Anzu sighed, staring into the water. "I should have known, I suppose. Why else would someone like him not be married already?"

Yugi shrugged. "Ah, he's not worth it anyway. You're a princess now! Go find somebody else to marry, if that's what you want." (3)

"But that's just it; that's not what I want! I don't want just anybody. I've somehow managed to fall in love with Yami!" Anzu watched a small fish swim around in the fountain, feeling embarrassed to admit this to her best friend.

"Then you need to find some way to impress him." Jou and Malik both appeared in a poof of purple smoke from wherever the genie had been hiding the two of them during the conversation.

She looked up at the genie as Malik settled beside her, offering as much comfort as a carpet can. "Like what, then, if you're so smart?"

Jou shrugged. "Dunno. First thing I would do, though, is to not be lying to him."

"I'm not lying to him." Anzu said defensively. "I've told him that I'm a princess, and because of your magic, I _am_ a princess."

"You haven't told him that, though. And hey, it's not like you have anything to lose now, right?" Jou said, sounding a little smug.

Anzu laughed hollowly. "Oh yeah, I can see it now. 'Hey, Yami, guess what, not only am I trying to steal your love away from this dead girl, I'm not even actually a princess, I'm a pathetic street thief.' Yeah, that won't send him running for the hills at all!"

Yugi choked, trying not to laugh. Jou ignored him, simply shrugging again. "Fine, do what you want, but don't blame me if something goes wrong."

Anzu simply rolled her eyes, then sighed again. "Well, maybe I'll get to talk to him later... Then I can try and at least convince him to give me a chance..."

"Perhaps."

(Poinky Dead Divider)

After dinner that night, Anzu sought Yami out, eventually finding him staring off into space, leaning on a low wall at the outer edge of the gardens that overlooked the Nile.

"Prince Yami?" she inquired hesitantly, approaching slowly. He looked up at her and she felt suddenly embarrassed, locking her arms behind her and looking away. "May I join you?"

He shrugged and turned back to the river. She came up beside him and leaned out, feeling a light breeze. In the silence, the two of them watched a few small children float stick boats down the length of the water.

They stood there for a long time while she tried to decide what to say to him. Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke, not daring to look up at him as she did so. "Before I say anything, please tell me you'll listen to what I have to say, so that I know I won't have to come find you again later..."

He glanced down at her, hearing the lack of hope in her voice. Then he murmured a quiet assent. He hadn't been planning to go anywhere anyway.

There was another moment of silence as she pulled her thoughts together. "Prince Yami, I-"

"Why do you call me that, by the way?" Yami asked suddenly, glancing down at her. "I may be a prince, but you're a princess. We're allowed to dispense with the stupid titles."

Anzu's face burned red. "I..." Her mind raced for some random explanation, but she couldn't think of anything. So she said nothing, shrugging. Then, determined not to let the conversation lapse into silence again, she turned to him. "You're right. I think we need to start over."

Yami blinked at her. "Hmm?"

She extended a hand to him. "I'm Teana. I'm not going to be here very long, but I want to at least try and be friends."

He wondered at her sudden request and re-introduction, looking into her determined eyes to try to figure out what she was thinking. There was something about her that struck him as... he wasn't sure. "And I'm Yami. I suppose we can indeed attempt to be friends, if you insist upon it."

Anzu smiled, then turned back to the Nile, watching the children below complain as their mothers came to collect them for the night. So he would give her a chance. That was better than nothing. "So, tell me more about yourself then."

Yami watched her for a moment, not sure where she was trying to take this conversation. He shrugged and leaned on the wall again. "There's not much about me to tell. You go first."

She hesitated, not expecting to have to share bits of her cover story so quickly. "I, um... Well, okay... I was born and raised in a rather small kingdom, which is west of here about three days' journey..." She struggled for another random detail of her made up life, but her mind only played back thoughts to her of her real childhood in the slave camps. She kept talking, mostly to fill the gap. "I... mostly played with the servant children growing up, since nobody else really liked me... I did pick up a few street habits from them, so that was one good thing..."

"Street habits like what?" Yami asked, looking sideways at her over his shoulder. "Not stealing, I hope?"

Anzu's face fell a little, just enough to be noticeable. "Er, no... Of course not." Mentally she smacked herself. She was doing a right little job of giving herself away, and here was solid proof that he disapproved of thieving. No, a thief was something she would never have to be any more, so there was no reason for him to know she had been one.

Yami frowned a little, wondering why the simple, teasing comment had sent such emotions across the girl's face. Did she think he was serious? She noticed his scrutiny and hastily changed the subject.

"Street habits like sneaking out of the palace during lessons to play with the other children. Speaking of, what kind of lessons do you have to endure here? We get such a low variety of subjects way out there..."

He shrugged, deciding to let her obvious subject change escape his notice for the moment. "Well, there're the basics, of course. Math, reading and writing. Then there's learning the different dialects of the parts of the kingdom that I've traveled to. And a little of some of the language from other lands... Priest Mahaado's been trying to teach me how the temples and temple construction works. And, of course, High Priest Seth, the slave driver, has been trying to get me to learn magic."

Anzu laughed. "Slave driver, huh? I've known a few of those in my time. The High Priest was the other man who was with the Pharaoh when I first came in, right?"

Yami nodded. "Yes, that's him. Tall, dark, and creepy."

"He didn't seem so bad to me."

"Obviously you didn't notice him glaring at you. Why? I have no idea. He's practically impossible to read, he's always making fun of me for having not found a wife yet, and worst of all, he's always conducting odd experiments with magic that do things like make thunder and lightning when there's not a cloud in sight..." He shook his head. "It's disturbing."

"Thunder and lightning with no clouds? Just, out of thin air?" Anzu blinked. "That sounds at the same time fun and dangerous."

Yami laughed, then grew serious, letting his eyes become unfocused in the darkness as he rambled. "Mostly dangerous, in his hands. I found out recently that the simple street thieves around here were being punished magically. It's not really a pretty thing, and we're talking people just trying to survive here... Well, I went to talk to my father about it, and apparently, Seth's the one who talked him into allowing it." He threw his hands up in disgust. "And what's more, he needs to sacrifice a _person_ to do some experiment or another, and so who does he take? The one person I.." Suddenly he remembered who he was talking to and fell silent.

Anzu got the hint. "You think that's what happened to... to her, right?" she said slowly, looking away.

Yami scowled, but nodded. They stood in silence for a while longer, then Yami sighed and straightened, turning to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" Anzu asked.

"I feel like going inside. It's getting a little too dark to see here." Yami replied, taking a few steps toward the palace.

"It's kind of far over there... you want a ride?"

Yami stopped, turning and raising an eyebrow at her in question. She smiled, faced herself towards the palace, put two fingers in her mouth and whistled shrilly. In the distance, a shape perked up and began coming closer swiftly.

As it did, Yami smiled. "I don't know too many people who can whistle like that," he commented.

Anzu shrugged. "I've always been able to whistle. It makes for a good warning signal, when necessary."

He blinked at her. "Warning signal...? Funny, that's just what Anzu said when she taught me how to do it."

Now Anzu was glad for the darkness, feeling her face heat up. Another slip. "Really? And... Who's Anzu?"

Yami frowned now. "A thief girl I met in the marketplace recently. I was trying to get away from prince life for a while, and I met her and one of her friends. They were both really nice to me, but I just ended up getting them into trouble..."

"Oh." Anzu frowned as well. Just a thief girl... She turned to watch as the shape drew nearer to them.

Finally, in the darkness, Yami thought he could make out what the shape was. It was what looked like a square of cloth, or a rug, flying somehow towards them. "What is that?"

It came to a halt in front of them, looking affronted by the question. Anzu giggled. "This is a magic carpet. His name's Malik."

"Malik? You named a carpet?"

If carpets could glare, this carpet would be. Yami blinked at it and Anzu laughed again. "Not technically. Malik used to be human, but he got cursed, and turned into this. He does make for good transportation, but we're trying to find someone who can turn him back, too."

Yami looked the carpet over. "Well, I could try... I haven't completely mastered use of the Millennium Puzzle yet, but I'm a fair hand at some of its magic." Said magical item began to glow from under his robes as he ran his hand along the carpet's length.

Malik shuddered suddenly and Yami pulled back. "No good. I can sense the magic around him, but it's in so many complicated layers, I'd be afraid of simply unraveling him if I tried to remove it..."

Anzu frowned. "Oh." Malik looked disappointed, but shrugged, half expecting something like that.

"Anyway, so Malik, would you mind giving us a lift to the palace?" Anzu asked. In response, he floated about waist height, a wave of one tassel inviting them to get on. Anzu bowed to Yami, "After you."

Yami raised an eyebrow at her, then got on. He sat, then extended a hand to her, helping her on as well. Malik soared upward, heading in the direction of the palace, but not staying near the ground either.

"Woah!" They both held on to the edges tightly, peering over at the ground below.

"I've never seen this place from above before." Yami commented, looking over.

Anzu nodded with a frown. "Still kind of dark to see anything, but it's pretty, especially with the palace all lit up like that."

Malik reached the palace. Then he bypassed it. Yami stared back at it. "Um...?"

"Malik, where are you going?" Anzu asked as he flew higher and higher, now heading away from the palace.

He waved a tassel in a sort of a 'you'll see' sort of way. She rolled her eyes and sat back. "I guess we're not going back yet, then." Yami chuckled.

"Oh well."

They flew onward into the night, going only Malik knew where.

(Poinky Dead Divider)

(1) At least, I'm assuming Ishizu is older than Yami is. I've always thought of Malik being the same age or older than Yugi, Yami, and the rest, and Ishizu is his older sister by like at least a few years, so...

(2) Different chameleon. XD! Seriously, I wasn't planning on it showing up, it just did. (If you don't get what I'm talking about, don't worry about it, I'm just being weird)

(3) Poor Yugi, caught up in all this drama, and he just doesn't really care.

Right, anyway... I was going to have this chapter be a lot longer than this, with the whole "magic carpet ride" thing in it, and such like that... but I know less about where those three are headed and what they'll do there than they do. u.u

So I just decided to post the chapter and whatnot. Nyeah.


End file.
